Nicholi Vaucanson
'Nicholi Vaucanson '''is an ex-student of the Solstice Monastery, currently enrolled as a student at the Church of Concordia. He is a noble and the sole heir to House Vaucanson . He uses a metal marionette named 'Dinky' that features an axehead and concealed firearm. Nicholi possesses the Major Crest of Vaucanson. In the Monastery, they are a member of the Aureate Chimeras. They are 18 at the start of the school year. Profile Born in Imperial Year 223, Nicholi is the only child of Regnan and Petraea Vaucanson, and sole heir to the house of Vaucanson. Nicholi's early life was spent largely in solitude, with his parents devoted to prayer in hopes of repenting for their ancestors profiting off war. Though his family still oversee the construction of siege weapons, his parents insist they are nothing more than deterrents. Through his adolescence, Nicholi studied engineering by observing the workers and assisting them. With a thirst for invention, Nicholi's first creation was a wooden box with a small lever that would turn itself off if switched on. Further fueling his creativity, Nicholi regularly observed street marionette performances, eventually attempting to create his own. After many prototypes, Nicholi created 'Dinky', a child-sized metallic caricature of a knight suspended by string connected to two control crosses. Nicholi was smitten by Dinky, and having no other friends he quickly bonded with the puppet, developing a whole personality for it. Spurred on by a horrifying home invasion weeks earlier, Nicholi eventually went about arming Dinky to protect him and be his knight in shining armor. Originally, the axehead and firearm were exposed, but after multiple run-ins with city guard, Nicholi designed a cover for the axehead and tinkered to allow Dinky to conceal the firearm in it's large head. Noticing their son drifting down the same path as their ancestors and ''arming a puppet with a gun, Nicholi's parents sent him to the Solstice Monastery in hopes he would become more pious. Despite having no interest in divine matters, Nicholi was thrilled at the opportunity, finally giving him a chance to make actual human friends. Being present during the fall of the Solstice Monastery, his enrollment has been widely regarded as a bad move. Personality Nicholi is a confident and inquisitive boy with an odd streak. If applied properly, his vast imagination could lead the way to cutting edge breakthroughs in engineering, but this is betrayed by his bizarre interests in puppets and meaningless projects. Nicholi believes everyone has something special and unique about them, and he wants to integrate that something into his various projects. Nicholi has somewhat of a wild chaotic streak, but he often projects it onto Dinky to deflect judgement. Combat Stats Combat Nicholi sincerely believes Dinky is his shield and spear, guarding him from danger while dishing out attacks. At long range, Nicholi spends most of his fights hiding behind Dinky while puppeteering it to move and attack in a way that draws attention to the puppet and not Nicholi. In close range, Dinky changes from a ""shield"" to a ""spear"", with its strings reeling in and joints locking so Nicholi can physically wield it as his axe. Crest Nicholi holds the Major Crest of Vaucanson, being passed down through his bloodline for generations. The crest is visible on his right palm, and reaches out as far as his fingertips. When the crest is etched into a metal surface, the holder can manipulate it without physical contact. Additionally, the holder can choose to see outwards from the location of the crest, but untrained this action causes the holder body to fall unconscious while they are seeing through the crest. Nicholi uses this to essentially "swap bodies" with Dinky, but his ancestors used to it manipulate gears and fine metal parts without having to disassemble an entire trebuchet. The type and purity of metal determine the scale of manipulation, with Nicholi only able to acutely control Dinky due to the carefully selected materials it was created with. A smart holder could disregard the manipulation entirely and plant bolts bearing the crest all over a location to effectively have multiple spying eyes, but Nicholi isn't exactly a smart holder. Personal Skills Friendship :( Gift List Lost Items Supports If you want, you can write a bit about how hard it is to become friends with your oc. Or how easy it is. Or just, the people they tend to talk to. The possibilities are endless. Possible Endings ''Geez, I just joined.'' Trivia * Nicholi's name comes from E. Nicholii, a species of eucalyptus tree. He shares this with his parents, which are also named after the E. Regnan and E. Petraea species. * Nicholi's middle and last names are based on Albrecht Roser (german master puppeteer), Henry Maudslay (machine tool innovator) and Jacques de Vaucanson (creator of automata and first person to create an automatic loom). * Dinky's appearance is based on a modified Mammet from Final Fantasy XIV * Nicholi's avatar art is by Grey, who is hands down one of my favourite people. Navigation